Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Being a big fan of Jess Franco and liking Dr. Mabuse movies this seemed like a win/win situation.
What we have is a Dr. Farkus (Jack Taylor) who is attempting to get the plans for a death ray from a nearby research facility. The only problem is that the plans are encoded and worthless. Now he needs to go after Dr. Orloff (Siegfried Lowitz) to learn how to decode the plans before he has to answer to his superiors.

Andros (Moises Augusto Rocha), is Farkus' muscle. A demented scar faced man who looks like some form of brain surgery has gone horribly wrong. His handler is the evil Leslie (Beni Cardoso) who sends him after the scientists daughter.

As far as Franco films, this is a good one. The music is fun. The concept that they steal plans they know are worthless, but do it anyway is hilarious. Add to that the local cops are cowboys complete with hats except for the chief who, played by Franco, looks like he just came from Italy and you know Franco is poking fun at the whole thing.

There are people who say that Farkus is actually Mabuse, but I would have to disagree. I think that Farkus is working for Mabuse. Throughout the film Farkus is constantly bemoaning the fact that if they don't get the plans and the decoding device that they're lives are worthless. It suggests that Farkus is working for someone else. Perhaps Mabuse?

I have no reason not to believe that Franco would make a Mabuse movie without Mabuse. In The Unconfessable Orgies of Emanuelle he makes the titular character more of a secondary character in that film so why not eliminate any screen time for Mabuse in this one? Makes perfect sense to me.
The television print I watched is pretty fuzzy, but the only one available. The newly added fansubs that surfaced recently were a Godsend for those of us that do not speak Spanish.